Film Animals Quota Guide: What Counts, How It Scales, and How to Pass Every Day

Your quota in Film Animals is a per-day money contract: each day the game names an amount, and your crew has to earn that much from wildlife footage before the day ends. Pass it, sleep, and you collect a ticket plus tomorrow's higher target. Fall short, and the night turns violent — the official description warns to "return before dark — otherwise you will be chased," and one crew that came up short was attacked by a huge monster that wrecked their camp. Here is what fills the quota, how fast it grows, and exactly what happens on both outcomes.

How the quota works

The game shows a money target with a day limit, and at day's end a "Contract progress due today" line settles the day's contract. One crew opened a run reading "2 days left" with a target they put at "600 dollars before 2 days, I think" — their own hedge, since on-screen readings vary. What's consistent across runs is the direction: the target climbs as days pass.

No source documents an exact per-day formula or a complete day-by-day table, and these readings come from players' screens in different runs — one opening said two days, another run lasted seven working days. So check the number on your own screen each morning and plan around it rising, not around memorized values.

What counts toward the quota

Only one thing adds quota money: wildlife footage that you sell or review at camp.

• Animal clips pay on review. One crew's camp session counted in $4,100, $1,900 and $1,900 from a mixed set, then "so much money in no time — it's already 6,000" after filming a group of animals.
• Dangerous animals pay more. As one player put it: "Filming snakes is fine, too. Dangerous animals like that. You get more for them."
• Attack clips spike hard. When your tape catches an animal attacking, it's flagged "Danger Shot" and "the money will shoot up." One rare-find clip "grew to 26,000," and a single risky dive produced footage "way over quota" on its own.
• People and scenery pay nothing. "Filming people doesn't get you any money" — campfire, moon and tourist clips raised the players' view count only. Views are not money and never move the contract.

Footage also isn't quota money until it's reviewed. One crew sprinted home with tapes still unsold ("we haven't deposited yet... sell the film") — only playing each cassette through at camp converts it into cash.

The daily loop

1. Grab the camera at camp. The intro tells you one player films while the rest ride along — there's a main camera plus a spare at camp, so in a 1–5 player lobby only one person needs to shoot.
2. Pick a route. Safe or dangerous — players summarize the trade as "more danger, better footage": the risky route pays better if you bring the tape home. The filming basics are covered in our Film Animals camera guide.
3. Film animals, aiming for danger. Prioritize dangerous animals and attack moments for Danger Shot payouts, and film whole groups when you find them — that's what built $6,000 fast. Skip people and landscapes; they're views, not cash.
4. Return before dark. The official rule is blunt — come back before nightfall "otherwise you will be chased" — and players confirm "if we go over the time limit, it will chase us." See the Film Animals day night cycle for the timing.
5. Sell and review the tape at camp. Insert the cassette into the TV and let each clip play out — the money counts in as every tape is reviewed.
6. Sleep. Sleeping settles the day's contract and rolls into the next morning.

If you pass

Passing a day keeps the run going: the crew sleeps, receives a ticket ("Time to sleep, we easily passed the quota... we got the ticket"), and wakes to the next day's higher target.

Reach the final quota and the run ends on your terms. One player hit 120,000 on day 8: "now it lets me go home... we don't need to hold the camera, do anything else, or go anywhere; we can just go home." He drove straight back, put the exact 120,000 he'd earned into a new house, and his lobby summary showed 120,000 earned, 7 days worked and 176 tickets collected — with trophies waiting in the lobby for a returning player. More on the finale in our Film Animals ending guide.

If you miss

A short day is punished at nightfall. One duo reached "one day left with $9,000" and knew they couldn't make it; after dark, "the day has come," and a huge monster hit the camp — extremely loud, "it broke the whole thing," it smashed their bus, dealt damage, and killed a player. The players themselves tied the attack to the missing money ("we didn't got the enough money... we're going to get eaten alive"), and it matches the official after-dark chase warning.

The recorded clips end during that attack, so what follows a failed night — a retry, a restart, or a lost run — isn't shown. Treat an unfilled day as the game's worst-case scenario rather than a recoverable slip: deposit early and don't end a day short. What the dark is like and how to survive out in it is covered in the Film Animals night survival guide.

Mistakes that cost quota days

• Filming for views instead of money. People, campfires and sunsets add view counts but zero contract progress. If the camera is pointed at it, it should be an animal.
• Holding tapes too long. Unreviewed footage is unconverted money. Get to camp with time to sell before you sleep.
• Lingering past dusk. The overtime chase can cost you the tape, the bus, or the run — head back early once the good clips are in the can.
• Trusting a fixed day-one number. The target climbs daily and readings differ between runs, so re-check the contract every morning and pace the day around it.
• Playing it too safe. Safe footage is slow footage. Dangerous animals, attacks and groups are what actually close a big contract — take the riskier route only when you're confident you'll make it back before dark.

Once targets pass a few thousand a day, slow clips stop being enough. Our Film Animals footage guide is the next stop for filling those bigger contracts faster.